Immediately a reply came back in
hasty, anxious tones:
"Take care! There's a mad fox down here!"
"A what?" Addison cried.
"A fox that has run mad!" Kate repeated.
"Where is he?" Halstead cried.
"Running round in the thickets," Kate answered. "Look out, boys, or
he'll bite you. That's the reason we didn't come home. We didn't dare
leave the camp."
This was such a new kind of danger that for a few moments we were at a
loss how to meet it. Tom looked about for a club.
"It's only a fox," he said. "I guess we can knock him over before he can
bite us."
He and Addison went ahead with the club and the gun; Halstead and I,
following close behind, held the lanterns high so that they could see
what was in front of them. In this manner we moved down the brushy slope
to the camp. The girls, who were peering out of the door, were certainly
glad to see us.
"But where's your 'mad' fox?" we asked.
"He's round here somewhere. He really is," Kate protested earnestly. "We
heard him only a little while ago."
Thereupon, while the girls implored us to be careful, we began to search
about by lantern light. At last we heard a low wheezing noise near the
old dam.
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